


Alive

by MerlinFicDriveThru



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Canon Era, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-01
Updated: 2015-10-01
Packaged: 2018-04-24 08:00:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4911664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MerlinFicDriveThru/pseuds/MerlinFicDriveThru
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Elyan/Freya. Elyan goes and lives on the lake with Freya instead of dying.</p><p>"Am I alive, Freya?"</p><p>“Are you alive, Elyan?” She pulled him up, towards the light, towards the warm. “Am I?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alive

“I know a place.” Merlin’s voice was far away, a hazy sound on the edge of Elyan’s consciousness. “It’ll be a limited existence, but he won’t be alone.”

“He’ll be alive?”

_Guinevere._

She was okay. Elyan coughed and reached for her.

His hand wouldn’t move, but she must have known. He felt her fingers close over his before everything turned dark.

She was alive, and that’s all that mattered.

***

Merlin leaned over the water. Arthur and Gwen were watching, confused on the shore.

“Freya?” He called for her, waiting. He recognized the stir in the water, the way the air smelled like summertime and strawberries. “Freya, I’ve a favor to ask.”

She slid out from the water, hair clinging to her skin, smile as soft and sad as ever. “Hello, Merlin. Nice to see you again.”

“It’s nice to see you, too.” He brushed hair away from her eyes. “I see the dress is as lovely as ever.”

“I added a few touches,” she ran her hands over the silky fabric, over embroidered waves and stars.

“Freya, I have a friend.” Merlin waved his hand, pulling Elyan forward over the water. He hadn’t woke for the entire journey here. His wounds bled into red swirls among the reeds. “He won’t last long.”

“I can try.” Freya frowned. “I can’t make any guarantees.”

“Please,” Gwen ran until she stood behind Merlin, dress wet and heavy. “You have to try. He- he was defending me. I can’t lose him again.”

Freya moved forward until she was in front of Gwen, searching the woman’s face for doubt. “He will be here, in this lake, forevermore with me. Are you sure, Gwen?”

“I can come visit, yes? I’ll be able to talk to him, to see him?” Gwen lowered her voice, looking down in to the red-stained water. “He’ll be alive.”

“In a way. Gwen, he will be here long after you are gone.” Freya tipped Gwen’s chin up so she could see, so she could know the cold fate awaiting her brother. “He will survive inside this lake as long as it survives.”

Gwen nodded, tears tracking down her cheeks. “I need him to live. Please, just help him live.”

Freya kissed Gwen’s forehead and smiled. “I will do my best then, Guinevere.”

***

Cool water lapped against his legs, against his arms, and his neck. It soaked into his wounds and burned. It slipped through his lips and seized his lungs. He couldn’t cough it out and he couldn’t move away from it.

“Elyan, be calm. It will be done soon.” A voice, new and soft, spoke into his ear. “It will be over soon.”

He smelled fresh grass and ripe fruit. A gentle touch soothed him, easing the pain away.

Elyan drifted in the water, back into darkness.

***

“Am I alive, Freya?” Elyan sat at the bottom of the lake, staring at the sun through the shimmering waves. It broke before it ever reached him.

It was cold in the lake.

It didn’t feel like being alive.

“Are you alive, Elyan?” She pulled him up, towards the light, towards the warm. “Am I?”

She was a vision, a beauty, with black hair in a cloud around her head and the saddest smile he’d ever seen. When she kissed him, it was a heartbeat in his chest and a pulse in his blood. He slipped his hand behind her head, tangled his legs with the skirt of her dress. She pressed to him, a sigh in the silence, a splash of color in the bleakness of the lake. When she kissed him, he had an answer.

“Yes, Freya, we are alive.”

***

Guinevere visited.

She visited in the cold and in the heat. She visited in the rain and in snow. She visited.

She brought cakes with her sometimes, and those were days of laughter. Sweet crumbs floated on the surface, where birds would come squawking to scoop them up. Strawberries and blueberries never went to waste.

When she was old and grey, she begged Elyan’s forgiveness.

He comforted her on that last visit, his hand dripping against her back and cheek. “I will be fine, here, with Freya.”

And she had been calmed by it, but he’d never forget the doubt in her eyes.

***

Merlin showed up one day, hair still black as night, eyes red-rimmed and puffy. “The king has passed.”

“I’m sorry, Merlin.” Elyan hugged him, breaking with his friend. “We will be here, as long as we are able. You are not alone.”

Freya squeezed his hand. The three of them sat in silence for a long time.

Forever was a heavy burden to carry.


End file.
